Initial Report of Investigation of UFO — Hampton, Virginia, 28 January 1965

On 28 January 1965, at 1734Z, a civilian housewife in Hampton, Virginia, observed an unidentified object in the sky for approximately ten minutes. The witness, who was hanging laundry at the time, reported hearing a low-flying jet before noticing the object hovering at a very high altitude, slightly northwest of her position. She described the object as being longer on one end than the other, resembling an aircraft without wings, and colored aluminum with bright orange or red hues. The object's behavior included hovering for two to three minutes, drifting westward, disappearing for a few moments, returning to its original position, and then drifting westward again. The witness noted that the object appeared to be higher than the contrails left by other aircraft in the area.

Captain Page G. Brake of the 4500th Air Base Wing conducted an investigation via telephone. He noted that the witness was leaving town and could not be interviewed in person. The investigation included a review of weather data from the Norfolk Weather Bureau, which confirmed clear and windy conditions. A weather balloon had been launched at 1215E, but it was determined that the balloon drifted rapidly eastward and would not have been in the vicinity of the sighting. The report concludes that while no single item could be definitively identified, the most probable explanation is that the witness observed an aircraft leaving an intermittent contrail at high altitude, which, given the volume of jet traffic in the area, was misinterpreted as a hovering or slow-moving craft. The report explicitly states that no physical evidence was found and no other aircraft reported unusual events during the period.